Abstract
This article discusses the ideas about gender contained in the Enseñanzas Sufíes Para Los Tiempos Actuales, a text by Abdul Rauf Felpete, the leader of the Naqshbandiyya Haqqaniyya in Latin America, probably the largest Sufi group in the continent. I analyse these ideas against the backdrop context in which they were produced: on the one hand, a conservative Sufi Islamic frame inspired by Nazim al-Haqqani’s ideas, and on the other, an Argentinian society that was incurring profound gender-related societal changes at the time when the shaykh delivered the sermons contained in the book. This historical moment was characterised by a growing feminist and LGTBQ+ activism and the arrival of a progressive government in Argentina, which over time, positioned this Latin American country in the vanguard of gender and sexual equality rights in the Spanish speaking world. In this context, Rauf Felpete proposes a gender model inspired in a Haqqani form of Islamic conservatism as a remedy to address what he perceives as the threat of civilizational decadence brought about by these changes. I discuss Rauf Felpete’s family ideology, a set of moral norms based on gender determinism and pronatalism, articulated through two key concepts, first, domesticity, understood as a way to regulate female behaviour and, second, motherhood, viewed as a Godly ordained natural instinct. In order to put into practice these gender norms, the devout Haqqani is called to move to the countryside; rural communes are presented as the only possible way of living a pious and authentically Islamic life, a mode of living that implies profound reconfigurations of gender (and of lifestyle, more generally) for his Latin American followers.
Highlights
Scarce attention has been paid to those forms of religious life that appear beyond the more well-established religious institutions in Latin America, and further attention to alternative forms of religiosity is needed: groups that, occupy a central, yet often unrecognised space in the religious field of the subcontinent (e.g., Semán and Viotti 2019, p. 196)
Considering that the Enseñanzas are a compilation of the sermons Rauf Felpete delivered between the years 2010 and 2013 in different Haqqani Latin American communities, the androcentric character shows us the context in which the text takes place, i.e., in this case it denotes the maleness of the addressee
In the context in which Rauf Felpete speaks, this position can be considered counterdiscursive in that what the mainstream Latin American public normally sees as the steady gaining of rights, a gradual progression that has occurred over the last half a century, he sees as a continual process towards social decadence: there are countries more advanced in the attack [against the family], like Argentina, and others less so, like Uruguay or Chile
Summary
Scarce attention has been paid to those forms of religious life that appear beyond the more well-established religious institutions in Latin America, and further attention to alternative forms of religiosity is needed: groups that, occupy a central, yet often unrecognised space in the religious field of the subcontinent (e.g., Semán and Viotti 2019, p. 196). I argue that under the leadership of Rauf Felpete, the Haqqaniyya tries to bring potential devotees with an initial interest in alternative spiritualities towards an Islamic way of life, as interpreted and understood by the socially conservative approach to Islam of the order former’s leader, Nazim al-Haqqani Those disciples formerly interested in the New Age cover, ideologically speaking, a wide spectrum of positions, from the more liberal (perhaps numerically better represented) to the quite conservative, and for all of them, adapting to the lifestyle advocated by the Haqqani shaykh implies major life changes. I content that his promotion of an ideal, simple, rural life is intendedly proposed as the only possible way to put into practice these conservative Islamic social norms that imply profound lifestyle reconfigurations for his Latin American followers
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
